Trip shank pivot



June 1, 1954 R. H. sHEPPARD TRIP SHANK PIVOT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed sept. 25, 1952 Faas INVENTOR June l, 1954 R. H. SHEPPARD 2,679,792

TRIP SHANK PIVOT Filed Sept. 25, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 1N VENTOR devices.

r gg The bolt 25, in normal fashion, fastens ward endof the connector to the top ofthe trip Patented June l, 1954 v UNITED s-rArs PATE-Nr y fran?` sHaNK PIVOT Y y ,*RichardfHShepparHanover,VPa. y yApplicationsspian-ter25, 1952, Swami-1.311,3@

This Ainvention relates to trip shanks and has Hfor its principal objectztheprovision of a trip shank which will extend greatly the 'angle thru i which the` trip shank andthe soil workingr tool 'mits the outeror forward member-offthis centrally pivoted connector to ride forward on the boss of the trip shank andthus relievefstrain on the cultivator mechanism. A still further object of the 'invention is Ato provide a particular ltype of centrally jointed connector in which'the four' transverse' pivotsare alined in such'fashion that 'the "sweepl or shovel' or other tool-readily trips vand even after it moves thru an `angle'in excess of l20fthe spring rod can still 'restore the ground 'toolto' original position just as soon as the cause of the trippingy is removed; l

4A still furtherobject ofthe invention isto l provide'connections 'between' the usual spring rod and the trip shank carried tool which will provide reversesucksufficiently positive toflift'the :en-'f l tirey gangv assembly, of which the shovel, sweep or'other tool'is a membencompletelyout of' the lground or at least suf-ciently to clear-any subsurface obstruction such;` as a root,-sturnp or vstone l and as soon as this obstruction is passed to restore toloriginal: normal operating position, such constructionv entirely avoidingthe previous kinking of the single piece connectingrod ofearlier ln the drawings: v Figure 1 is a side elevation showing the parts in normal working position; l Figure 2 is ya similar rview showing the yparts tripped.

Figure 3 is aplan the centrally jointed connector. Figure 4 is a view of the leveling bushing Certain of the parte are of old and well known construction. Thesen include the standard. v Il! "sometimes rcalled thepo'st foot or'shank, the

rbracket H secured `to the standard as 'bythe l rivets l2, thespring rod Ilihaving at' its lower shownas a sweep v2i The trip shank 2i) has the.,

usual boss r Zt thru the centerof which passes the pivot pin 25 which forms Ithe airis about which the trip shank turns as it is tripped. j

the forshank 2l), but adjustment is; made soythatf the bottom 227 of the sweep 2l isparallel to the ground level, usually about 2 below the surface, by turningl 'the eccentric bushing 28. I r V "flThe connector, which in the past has always view looking downward upon vard;

, freising. (01.97-47.88) Y. ff I vbeen/an elongated pairoflinks, is replaced in the present device'by: a centrallyjoined connector.' The rea'rvends of v thisv connectonare pivoted to the spring-urged links il. as 'by the bolt'3ll sothis bolt may turn, about the vkpivotil in a'depending-lug` 32 of the bracketl'l, downward thru anvangle greater than a `right angle;

`actually until the spring-urged links Vapproach alinement withth'e bend 33 of thestandard; @The links'l'l never touch this point '33, howevenas might be indicated by Figure 2, because thelinks ull" arespaced apart a -g'reaterfdistance thanthe thickness of the lower at portion of the stand- Atthe forward end the connector -ispivoted to the bolt 'Zwhich therefore forms a kneejoint between the connector' and the trip shank '20.

f The connector consists 'of the'rearli'nksf 36 Aand the forward links 3l, the latter preferably formed by Welding together the straps 38 and 39, as -best seen in Figure 3, the purpose' beingto have less clearance Abetweenr the 'connector members. at'lthe knee' joint than nearthe looserivets llwhich form the central joints of the connector."

which 4form the connector, arevnever ftoggled' be cause thespring 'l2 pulls the spring-urged-` links l? upward at the pivot-30 vand consequently" the link 3S is lifted'so that theaXis of the pivotpin 3i? isv never above a plane thru theA axis of the bolt 26 andthe axes of the alined rivets'fl. rThe axis of the stationary pivot 3l' may be .above this plane and likewise the axis' ofthe lpin 411 Awhich joins the two links IT to the eye .150i` theuspringi rod lli may be on or near` this plane. f

i' t is important that .the distance ufromathe knee joint 26-to the tripshank pivotv 25; shall be less than the distance fromy the `jointllsto the i loose rivetsl i0 whichform .the centralvjoint .of

the .connector so that as the rear linkfSSH-'offthe connector strikes against theboss 24 on the Atrip shank, this link 36 will tend to slide forward on the bossas thetool moves downwardly and back to the position' shown in Figure.r .y

By this .arrangement the springsZ caninove the tool downwardly` and Vforwardly backito norjoint lsi! does add topthe compression ofthe spring 42 vand might Veven. bend r'slightly the spring-rod lll butthe rebound of. this'rod aids 4the spring :12in returning the two spring-urged links il froml .their over-center position thus aiding theshovel or sweep .or other ground working tool tosnap back into-its normal operating -positionjust asfsoon as the 'obstructionis cleared.

Except for the central pivotingA of the connector ythere vwouldbe .greater dangerof not only'bending a single strap connector but causing a bending of the main shank l or the trip shank 20.

In operation the sweep 2|, the bottom of which is normally horizontal, strikes an obstruction. As this sweep is bolted or otherwise secured to the trip shank 25! and as counter-clockwise movement about the main pivot 25 is impossible, the tip 28 of the sweep moves downward with respect to the stationary pivot 25. Knee joint 2t therefore moves forward and down and the forward link 3i of the connector also moves forward and down, pulling the rear pin 30 forward. Since such movement is resisted by the stationary pivot 3|, the rear pivot 3% therefore moves almost vertically downward carrying with it the rear member 36 of the connector. The two spring-urged links turn in an arc about the pivot 3|. This movement continues and as the connector strikes the boss 24 it yields centrally about the axis of the loose rivets di), the link 36 continuing to move forward and the forward link 31 moving about the axis of these rivets to the position shown in Figure 2. When the obstruction is passed the highly compressed spring 42 urges rod i4 upward and the links turn about the stationary pivot 3| in the bracket on the standard.

In moving from the normal position shown in Figure l to the full tripped position in Figure 2 it will be noted that the bottom 21 of the sweep 2| moves thru an angle greater than 120 as against an angular' movement of less than 80 provided by a similar device using a single link instead of the jointed link Sli-31. The advantage is that in tripped position the tip 28 of the sweep is only 1% below its normal depth of 2 whereas with an angle of only 79, permitted by a single link, the sweep would have gone 6" farther into the ground for a total of 8". This latter naturally would cause great strain on the entire cultivator mechanism and in addition would still leave some suck on the sweep 2| which would cause it to pull farther into the ground and increase the strain already on the trip shank and in fact on the entire mechanism. With the jointed link, as shown, there is a reverse suck on the sweep 2l, as readily seen in Figure 2, and this is sufficiently positive to lift the entire gang assembly out of the ground.

The leveling of the bottom of the sweep or other soil working tool is readily and conveniently perfected by turning the square bushing 2B about the bolt before tightening. As best seen in Figure 4 the bushing has an eccentric hole 133 unequally spaced from the four faces, till, 45, ri and 4'! in that order of distance, so precise leveling is easily arranged.

What I claim is:

1. In a mounting for a ground working tool of the type employing a standard, a trip shank pivoted to the standard adapted to carry a tool at its lower end, a spring-pressed rod, a springurged link pivoted at its front end to a pivot xed with respect to the standard and having pivotal connection with the spring rod: a connector of two links having a central joint pivoted at its front end by a knee joint to the upper end of the trip shank above its pivot on the standard and pivoted at its rear end to the rear end of the spring-urged link, and an abutment in proximity to the trip shank pivot lying in the path of movement of the connector to engage the connector near its central joint thus causing the centrally connected links to turn about their common joint and assume an angle of less than 180 so as to permit the trip shank to move through a greater angle than if the connector were rigid.

2. The device of claim 1 in which the distance from the pivot of the trip shank on the standard to the knee joint, which pivots the connector to the trip shank, is less than the distance from said knee joint to the central joint of the connector, whereby the rear link of the connector will engage the abutment and slide thereon.

3. In combination, a standard, a trip shank pivoted near the bottom thereof to carry a soil working tool at its lower end, a two-link, centrally jointed connector pivoted to the shank near its upper end, a spring-urged link pivoted at one end to the connector and pivoted at the other end to a point iixed with respect to the standard, an abutment proximate the trip shank pivot on the standard, the position of the axis of the central joint of the connector being so chosen that the rear link of the connector will engage the abutment, whereby the tool carrying shank may move thru a considerable angle about its pvot on the standard after the connector strikes the shank pivot, by reason of the forward connector member turning about the joint axis after the rear connector member has reached the limit of its movement.

4. In an agricultural tool mounting of the type employing a standard, a trip shank pivoted to the standard and adapted to carry a tool at its lower end, a bracket extending rearwardly from the standard, a spring-pressed rod supported on said bracket, a pair of spring-urged links pivoted at their front ends to said bracket and having a pivotal connection with the spring-pressed rod, a pair of connectors each consisting of two links connected by a central joint, said connectors being pivoted at their front ends by knee joints to the trip shank above its pivot on the standard and pivoted at their rear ends to the rear ends of the spring-urged links by a common pivot, a boss surrounding the pivotal connection between the standard and the trip shank pivot, the distance from the knee joint axis to the axis of the pivot of the trip shank on the standard being less than the distance from the knee joint axis to the central joints of the connectors, and the axis of the pivots at the front ends of the springurged links lying above a plane passing thru the axis of the knee joints and the axis of the common pivot of the spring-urged links and the connectors, whereby when the tool strikes an obstruction and the trip shank turns about its pivot, the rear links of the connectors will engage the boss and will move forward as the trip shank turns farther about its pivot, breaking the central joints and therefore decreasing the obtuse angle between the two links of each connector, whereby the trip shank may move thru a. total angle equal to that which it would turn if the connectors were solid bars plus the amount of decrease of the obtuse angle between the two links of the connectors from the normal angle oi before the connectors engage the boss.

References Cited in the file 0f this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 310,290 Lewis Jan. 6, 1885 620,717 Moore Mar. 7, 1399 1,209,095 Williams Dec. 19, 1916 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 108,615 Australia Sept. 21, 1939 

